Child flown, Rockford family hospitalized after DeKalb County crash Friday

DeKALB – A 3-year-old was flown to a children’s hospital in Maywood, and four others were hospitalized, after a two-car crash Friday on Route 23 south of DeKalb, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

All five people, including a child who turned 10 months old Saturday, are from the same Rockford-based family, DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said. The whole family initially was taken to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital, according to a news release.

Sullivan said the 3-year-old was later flown to Loyola Medicine Children’s Hospital in Maywood.

“The child that was flown out has severe injuries, but they got him to the hospital. And they got him on the helicopter right away and got him transferred out, so that was good, but I don’t have an update on condition,” Sullivan said.

The crash occurred about 4 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Route 23 and Perry Road. The driver of a 2004 Toyota Prius with four passengers failed to yield to a stop sign while traveling east on Perry Road, according to the sheriff’s office, and collided with a 1998 Ford F-800 truck traveling south on Route 23.

Sullivan, who responded to the scene, described the crash as a Prius versus a dump truck-type vehicle.

“It was a truck pulling a trailer with some equipment on it, so it was a big truck,” Sullivan said.

The driver of the truck, a 36-year-old from Waterman, was uninjured in the crash while everyone in the Prius was hospitalized. The driver of the Prius was cited for disobeying a stop sign.

The Prius was traveling east when it collided with the truck, but ended up on the west side of the intersection, according to the release.

“It was a side [impact] but it hit like more of the engine compartment of the Prius, but on the driver’s side of that,” Sullivan said.

DeKalb Fire Department also responded to the scene.